How to replace Google Reader for Content Curation

Last month Google Reader announced it’d be closing it’s doors on July 1 as content curators realized their worst fears. I have looked at a few options that would replicate the features I loved most about Google Reader and used on my networks. Here’s how I configured my content curation sources:

I use 2 apps for reading news. Feedly has all the sources I’ve curated over the years into Google Reader. A few years ago I reviewed Feedly and enjoyed it, but ultimately found it not quite as powerful. Things have drastically improved in Feedly, and they are ready to roll out their own system when Google Reader goes dark. I prefer to read it in list mode to blast through articles as fast as I had in Google Reader. This works well on mobile, too.

My other news reading app via mobile is Zite. I use Zite differently than Feedly. Feedly is the place to see what I’ve selected, while Zite is the place to see suggested content based upon what I normally read and share. I follow topics in Zite, often discovering articles on websites that are new to me.

When I find an article on either of my reading places, I share that article manually to Google+ personal profile, and sometimes send it to Pocket as well. With Pocket, I can get an RSS feed out that can later reach many other destinations.

Using https://ifttt.com/recipes/84459, I can have the content I put in Pocket automatically scheduled to reach other social destinations via Hootsuite autoschedule. This spreads out when the content reaches some destinations so as not to bombard my community just because I happen to be blasting through all my content sources. I still have to select what I want to share, but let this schedule out when it reaches them.

We’ve already looked at why I love using Hootsuite to manage my online community on most every platform. You’ll need to connect your Hootsuite Pro account with IFTTT to finish off this content curation web.